CW: There was a lot of bird hunting and killing, some of it graphic, which would have ruined the book for me even if I'd been enjoying it. (I wasn't.) Set largely on Skellig Michael, one of the Skellig islands off the southwestern coast of Ireland, this begins on the first fast-day following Easter in Cluain Mhic Nóis, a monastery in County Offaly on the River Shannon. A place where strangers visit to study with one of the teachers, or to take a step away from the demands of life, to restore their soul, if you will. A guest arrives at an Irish monastery. His name is Artt and he is known as a blessed man and scholar. While visiting, he has a dream that he leaves this place with two of the brothers, one young one old, and they row on the river out to the sea and on south until they find an island, the right island, to found their community. He is granted his wish to follow this dream, ask these two brothers to pledge obedience to him and receives needed supplies. Artt will be the Prior with Cormac and Trian as the brothers who pledge fealty.

Artt finds himself wondering if perhaps tales will be told about him. Is it arrogance to think it? The legend of how the priest and scholar Artt set off, with just two humble companions, in a small boat. The extraordinary pair of islands he found in the western ocean; how he claimed the higher one for God, and founded a great retreat in the clouds. The glory of the books reproduced there, and then generations of the copies’ offspring. The ceaseless hum of prayer always rising from that little hive. A timely alllegory ... brooding, dreamlike... Though this is a text replete with religious fable, it’s in descriptions of the physical world that Donoghue’s prose soars and the narrative’s claustrophobia is alleviated. Likewise, among themes that include isolation and devotion, its ecological warnings are its most resonant. ... a flinty kind of hope brightens its satisfying ending.' - The Observer Three monks on a small craggy island off of Ireland many centuries ago (~600 A.D). One of them, Prior Artt, has a vision that he is destined to build a church away from society. In his dream he sees himself doing this with the aid of a young monk and an old monk. So he selects two from the monastery, and off they go in a crap-ass boat and eventually end up on an island. It’s not like Gilligan’s Island let me tell you. Access to holiday home is subject to park opening times. Park cannot be used as a permanent residence. Haven Leisure Ltd (t/a Haven) is registered in England (No. 01968698) and is a FCA appointed representative of Bourne Leisure Limited. Bourne Leisure Ltd is registered in England (No. 04011660) and is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Financial Services Register No. 312847) as a credit broker and insurance distributor. Registered office: One Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 4YL. Your Haven holiday includes accommodation, restaurants, takeaways and arcades, as well as a Play Pass which allows you entry to our entertainment venues and pools, as well as theability to book activities.

Vivid reimagination ... a blend of survival story, an elaboration of a tense psychological triangle and an exploration of charisma and hubris ... It is the dynamics of this tiny, ill-assorted trio that really fascinate us.' - Times Literary Supplement Three monks set off from a monastery in southwest Ireland in a small boat for a destination that God has yet to reveal. They navigate the River Shannon and emerge into the North Atlantic, where the currents and wind drive them south of the Iveragh Peninsula. A heavy fog lifts and before them the jagged blade of Skellig Michael juts from the sea, alive with thousands of birds, mosses, and one rowan tree, but nothing else. It is 600 AD. The questions she poses are compelling: Does a didactic knowledge of the Bible and a vow of obedience and extreme sacrifice justify a holier-than-thou attitude? Is nature God’s holiest language and are its glorious beings, its birds and plants, our sisters and brothers? Or have we been truly awarded domination over all of it and if so, at what cost? Should monks be as humble as slaves, even when their own survival is severely threatened and every core of their being cries out against what is being demanded? Guests that book a Haven break will receive a Play Pass giving them access to free entertainment and the opportunity to book free swimming slots and a selection of free and paid activities (subject to availability). Self-catering offers

Kim Honey, 'How a 21st-century Feminist Inhabits the Minds and Lives of Sixth-Century Monks in Haven,' https://www.everythingzoomer.com/zed-book-club/2022/09/28/how-a-21st-century-feminist-inhabits-the-minds-and-lives-of-sixth-century-monks-in-haven/Trian is the youngest and has been at the monastery since he was thirteen. Always hungry and always clumsy, Trian is the first to volunteer. Cormac has been a convert for fifteen years since the death of his wife and children from the plague. He suffered with the illness but was spared. And Artt is the elusive stranger, scholar, priest who will become their Prior. Expect a slow burn of a story. Emma Donoghue has obviously done massive research and the novel is fascinating in its recreation of an ancient time and a foreboding destination. Depending solely on God’s will, the three monks exist on a day-to-day basis on a land that offers little in food, drink, and shelter and how they manage to get by is fascinating to learn.